Class C Felony

SOUTH BEND Â? A 34-year-old South Bend man has been charged in connection with two robberies and an attempted robbery last week. Roosevelt L. Taylor faces two counts of robbery, a Class C felony; one count of attempted robbery, a Class C felony; and one count of being a habitual offender. The robberies occurred June 25 at McClure Oil gas station on U.S. 31 South and 1st Source Bank on South Michigan Street. The attempted robbery was June 27 at the Family Dollar Store on South Michigan Street.

The St. Joseph County prosecutor's office has elevated charges against the South Bend man accused of shooting an 18-year-old Oct. 27. Luis Briones, 25, now faces one count of murder. The shooting victim, Delvon Davidson, died Tuesday morning at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. Davidson had been on life support since the shooting, and until Wednesday, Briones had been charged with attempted murder, which carries a lesser sentence. Briones is being held in the St. Joseph County Jail.

A St. Joseph County home detention officer charged with fondling an offender during a home monitoring visit would avoid jail time under a binding plea agreement he filed today in court. In a hearing before Superior Court Judge Jerome Frese, Andre Lawson, 42, agreed to plead guilty to Class C felony attempted sexual misconduct, in exchange for prosecutors dismissing a Class C felony charge of sexual misconduct. Lawson, wearing a tan-colored dress suit and standing next to his attorney, Andre Gammage, admitted to the crime in a brief hearing.

ELKHART Â? A 20-year-old Elkhart man was treated at a local hospital for a gunshot wound in the back and a 19-year-old Elkhart man was arrested in connection with the incident early Sunday morning. According to a news release, the 20-year-old was shot while sitting in a car near Eighth and Mason streets about 1 a.m. Sunday. His injuries were not life threatening. Police said the 19-year-old was arrested later on a suspicion of criminal recklessness, a Class C felony.

ELKHART -- A 5-year-old boy who was shot Sunday night in the 500 block of Chapman Avenue was in critical condition Tuesday, authorities said. A 26-year-old suspect has been taken into custody. Demaris McGee was first taken to Elkhart General Hospital and later airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The man who was arrested is suspected of criminal recklessness with serious bodily injury, a Class C felony.

SOUTH BEND -- A Mishawaka man has been charged with possessing child pornography. On Friday, prosecutors charged Christopher Akens with two counts of possessing child pornography, a Class D felony, and one count of child exploitation, a Class C felony. According to a charging affidavit, an investigator in Hamilton County allegedly tracked online files containing pornographic images to Akens' computer, using its IP address. An officer from the St. Joseph County Police Departments' Cyber Crimes Unit then questioned Akens, who allegedly admitted to possessing illegal images on his computer.

ELKHART Â? A 15-year-old Elkhart boy was taken into custody Monday in connection with a May 10 robbery at Dollars and Cents, 215 S. Main St., police said. The teen was stopped in the area of the robbery soon after it took place, but authorities did not have enough information to make an arrest. After further investigation, police were able to identify the boy as a suspect and he appeared Tuesday in Juvenile Court, where he was ordered held in juvenile detention pending his initial hearing, police said.

An Elkhart man has been arrested on a charge of child solicitation, a Class C felony, as the result of a federal investigation. William P. Jones, 22, was arrested Thursday at his home in the 22000 block of County Road 104. Jones is alleged to have knowingly solicited a child less than 14 years old online. The investigation was initiated in the Chicago Office of the U.S. Secret Service and later included the Elkhart County Prosecuting AttorneyÂ?s Office. If convicted, Jones faces up to eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office has formally charged an Elkhart Police Department officer with forgery, according to a news release from the department. Cpl. Richard Urban has been placed on paid administrative leave. During the next Board of Public Safety meeting, Chief Dale Pflibsen will request that he be put on unpaid leave, according to the release. Urban was charged with the Class C felony as a result of an investigation by the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department.

SOUTH BEND -- A trial date has been set for Robbie Duke, a South Bend 19-year-old charged in a March 12 slaying at Courtyard Place Apartments. Meanwhile, another man accused in the crime, Deandrea "Bolo" Lee, has been released from jail after posting $3,000 bond, according to jail records. St. Joseph Superior Court Judge John Marnocha set Duke's trial for July 20. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 11. Duke is facing one count of reckless homicide, a Class C felony, for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Tyler Brownlee.

SOUTH BEND -- Once a prominent force in local politics, with his stout figure and bespectacled face a given at events like Dyngus Day, former chairman of the county's Democratic Party Owen "Butch" Morgan will be sentenced Monday for his role in a ballot fraud case that ended his more than 16-year career in scandal. It is the end of a tale of the rise and fall of a man powerful in the local political scene, the role of a newspaper and the three government workers who did what he asked.

SOUTH BEND - A judge handed down a suspended sentence this morning to a woman who was accused of being an accomplice in a fatal beating last year in a home on the southeast side of town. St. Joseph County Superior Court Judge Jerome Frese sentenced Patricia James, 55, to six years in prison followed by a four-year period of probation. Frese suspended the prison sentence, meaning James will not serve the time in prison if she does not break the law during the probationary period.

MICHIGAN CITY -- A semi-truck driver from Illinois was killed early Thursday morning in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 94, according to an Indiana State Police report. The report said Steven Lunn, 52, of Olympia Fields, Ill., was pronounced dead at the scene after a collision that involved two semis and a 2006 Audi station wagon. It occurred shortly after 2 a.m. CDT near the 43-mile marker. The other semi driver, George A. Leeth Sr., 37, of Hammond, was taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Michigan City with injuries not believed to be life threatening.

SOUTH BEND - St. Joseph County prosecutors have filed charges against the county jail inmate who police said escaped in a bread delivery truck Tuesday and two women who allegedly helped him flee. Prosecutors charged Franklin Rice, 27, with escape, a class C felony, and criminal conversion, a class A misdemeanor, for allegedly stealing the delivery truck. Phetsamone Kaviyakone, 27, of Bremen, Rice's girlfriend, and Kaviyakone's friend Priscilla Minjarez, 21, are also charged with escape.

SOUTH BEND -- St. Joseph County prosecutors have charged a South Bend man with molesting a girl when staying overnight at her family's house in South Bend. Demetrius Byrd, 18, is charged with child molesting, a Class C felony, in an affidavit filed Feb. 11. The girl, 13, told a teacher Jan. 24 that Byrd came into the room she shared with her 4-year-old brother at 1 a.m. that morning, according to the affidavit. The charging documents say the girl reported Byrd got into her bed and touched her inappropriately.

SOUTH BEND -- A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in a January double homicide on Adams Street. Rakeem White, 20, pleaded guilty in June to assisting a criminal, a Class C felony, for providing false information in the shootings of Jazmin Conlee and Alejandro Tinoco, both 19, on Jan. 25. The sentencing range for a Class C felony is between two and eight years, with four years being the advisory sentence. Prosecutors charged Charles Moore, 26, of South Bend, with robbery, murder, felony murder and attempted murder, and Jermon Gavin, 21, also of South Bend, with robbery and felony murder.

SOUTH BEND - A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in a January double homicide on Adams Street. Rakeem White, 20, pleaded guilty in June to assisting a criminal, a Class C felony, for providing false information in the shootings of Jazmin Conlee and Alejandro Tinoco, both 19, on Jan. 25. Tinoco died Jan. 31, while Conlee passed Feb. 9 from their injuries. The sentencing range for a Class C felony is between 2 and 8 years, with 4 years being the advisory sentence.

SOUTH BEND -- A Mishawaka man has been charged with possessing child pornography. On Friday, prosecutors charged Christopher Akens with two counts of possessing child pornography, a Class D felony, and one count of child exploitation, a Class C felony. According to a charging affidavit, an investigator in Hamilton County allegedly tracked online files containing pornographic images to Akens' computer, using its IP address. An officer from the St. Joseph County Police Departments' Cyber Crimes Unit then questioned Akens, who allegedly admitted to possessing illegal images on his computer.

SOUTH BEND -- A man connected to the double homicide of a teenage couple in January, pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to help cover up the crime. Rakeem White, 20, made the admission in court as part of a plea agreement that included the dropping of a second charge of receiving stolen property. White told St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jane Woodward Miller that he lied to Metro Homicide officers in late January, as they were investigating the shooting deaths of Jazmin Conlee and Alejandro Tinoco, both 19, who were shot in their home on Adams Street.